Abstract #3403

The Effect of Primidone on Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Concentration in the Dentate Nucleus in Patients with Essential Tremor

Ulrike Dydak^1,2, Ruoyun Ma^1,2, Nora Hernandez³, Johnathan P Dyke⁴, and Elan Louis^3,5,6

¹School of Health Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States, ²Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States, ³Department of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Heaven, CT, United States, ⁴Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States, ⁵Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research, Yale School of Medicine, New Heaven, CT, United States, ⁶Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Heaven, CT, United States

Whether current use of the medication primidone affects dentate γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentrations is unknown. Yet, this may be an important confounder in studies of the pathophysiology of essential tremor (ET). Using the MEGA-PRESS J-editing sequence, we found no difference in dentate GABA levels between patients taking primidone and patients not taking primidone. Furthermore, there was no association between daily primidone dose and dentate GABA concentration. These data suggest that it is not necessary to exclude ET patients on primidone from MRS studies of dentate GABA concentration.

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